


Sunshine

by orphan_account



Category: Avengers, Avengers AU - Fandom, Sunshine (2007)
Genre: AU, F/M, M/M, multiple character deaths
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2018-01-20 20:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1523996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an AU based on the movie Sunshine. I highly recommend it, although I will be using the script and plot line to create my AU. I will be editing a lot because of the characters and relationships I am using, but if you watch the film the ending and twists will be spoiled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Our sun is dying. Mankind faces extinction._

_Seven years ago the S.H.I.E.L.D project sent a mission to restart the sun but that mission was lost before it reached the star. Sixteen months ago, I, Anthony Stark, and a crew of seven left earth frozen in a solar winter. Our payload a stellar bomb with a mass equivalent to Manhattan Island._

_Our purpose, to create a star within a star._

_Eight astronauts strapped to the back of a bomb._

_My bomb._

_Welcome to Avenger I._  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Avenger?”

Bruce Banner sits upon the metal bench of the observation deck speaking to the AI of the ship, Avenger. Dark black sunglasses perched on the end of his nose. His already tan skin drinking in the precious light and heat of the sun, so close, and yet so distant.

“Yes, Dr. Banner?” Avenger answers in its all too human-like voice.

“Please re-filter the Observation Room portal.”

“Filter up or down, Dr. Banner?”

“Down.” The glow seeps into the room, stronger than ever. “Oh, my.” Bruce relishes the heat, fascinated by the warmth creeping deep into his bones, something he never got to feel on Earth.

“Avenger, how close is this to full brightness?”

“At this distance of 36 million miles you are observing the sun at 2 percent of full brightness Dr. Banner.”

He is astonished “Two percent?” A measly two percent provides this much heat? Bruce is so curious about how much power this dying star holds.  
He wishes to hold that brightness, that heat, in his hands. Bask in it, float in it, forget everything else around him and focus on this sta-

“Four percent would result in irreversible damage to your retinas.” Avenger’s voice cuts through his thoughts. “However, you could observe 3. 1 percent for a period of no longer than 30 seconds.”  
Thirty seconds is not long enough, will never be long enough.

“All right. A, I'm gonna reset the filter to 3.1 percent.” Bruce says as he punches in the numbers and spins the dial on the monitor.  
The screen drops, and he is basking in a blinding white light.

It’s _perfect_.


	2. Chapter 2

“Well, it's invigorating. It's like taking a shower in light.”

Bruce is sitting at the large dining table with Natasha, Tony, Maria, and Thor. Trying, and failing, to put into words the feelings he gets from basking in the sun’s rays.

“You lose yourself a little.” A lot.

“So, like a flotation tank.” Natasha supplies, pouring Bruce a glass of water.   


“Actually, no.” He answers. But it wouldn’t be the first time they didn’t understand him.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Steve seems bent on interrogating Coulson about the identity of the meat in the stir fry.

“Look, what is it, beef?” It’s the same question he asks every day, but now it just seems like a joke between the men.

The two had a mutual understanding of each other, both men had served their time in the war. It seemed as though when the sun began dying every country immediately panicked and began pointing fingers at one another. And guns.

Steve was the young captain that came to the rescue of Coulson’s battalion when they were pinned down. He had looked up to him ever since, Steve was basically his brother, so it was only natural he enlisted in space training as soon as Steve did.  


“Chicken.” Giving him a playful side eye. “If you don't like it Cap, you take my shift next time. Besides, shouldn’t you be bothering Tony?” And with that he throws a towel at Steve’s shaggy blonde head.  


“For psych tests on deep space, l ran sensory-deprivation trials. Testing total darkness on flotation tanks. And the point about darkness is, you float in it.” Bruce states, still explaining his thoughts on the observation deck and the sun. “You and the darkness are distinct from each other. Because darkness is an absence of something, it's a vacuum. But total light, it envelops you. It becomes you. It's very strange. I don't know how to explain. I recommend it.”

Steve enters right as Bruce finishes his thought, he drops a kiss on Tony’s cheek as he sits down, earning a happy hum from the physicist.

“What's strange, Banner, is that you're the psych officer, and I'm clearly a lot saner than you are.” Steve jokes at Bruce, eliciting a laugh from everyone at the table and even a smile from Bruce himself.

“What did I miss?” Coulson asks as he places food on the table.

“Ah, just Bruce worshiping Ra.” Tony prods, and adds “Hey Bruce, when you start sacrificing people let me know. I’ll let you have Steve first.”

“Hey!” Steve gasps, smiling and gently elbowing Tony.   


Bruce laughs, “If I were to sacrifice people it wouldn’t be any of you, you all are the most un-pure group I’ve ever met.”

Tony feigns horror, placing a hand on his chest like an over-heated southern belle. “Well I never, my purity is completely intact. That is until Steve here ravishes me in the night.” He throws a wink at Steve who is drowning in a glass of water and blushing a shade of red that probably isn’t healthy.   


Maria stifles a laugh, patting Steve on the back. Thor lets out a deep belly laugh and Clint harmonizes in the thunderous laughter.

Natasha seems completely unpassed, nodding at Coulson and adding a simple, “This is wonderful. Coulson, thank you.”

An hour passed and the eight astronauts were still gathered around the table.

“All right,” Steve began, “If no one's gonna say it, I'm going to.”  


Thor cut in, “The solar wind reading is much higher than we'd anticipated at this distance.”

“For the moment we can still send package messages back. High-frequency bursts will rise above interference and the Moon Stations will be able to pick them up. But it's possible that within 24 hours we won't be able to communicate at all.” Clint finished. Looking to Thor.  


“Possible?” Thor asks.   


“Probable.”  


“We'll finally be on our own.” Natasha says, staring down into her empty bowl.   


“We're 55 million miles from Earth. I'd say we're already on our own.” Steve cuts in.   


“Come on, guys. We were expecting this. No great drama.” Clint states. “We're flying into the dead zone seven days sooner than we thought. But if any of you are planning on sending a final message home you should do it now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is up and ready! Thanks so much for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Tony sits down in front of the camera, putting on his best brave face like he always does. Even if he is terrified, even if he is scared they’ll end up like Hydra 1…

The camera beeps as it begins to record. Tony smiles.

“Well, Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey. I hope you're proud of your boss saving mankind and so on. By the time you get this message, I'll be in the dead zone. It came a little sooner than we thought. But this means that you won't be able to send a message back. Dry those tears Pepper, It’ll be okay. So I just wanted to let you know that I don't need a reply message. Especially of Pepper yelling at me. Because I know everything you wanna say.”

Tony’s eyes warm as he thinks of all the good his team will be doing if they succeed. He thinks of Natasha in the oxygen garden and how she could finally do what she loves outside. He thinks of Clint, being able to watch his wife tend to their garden, her red hair blazing bright in the sun. Thor, who would love nothing more than to ride the waves on the unfrozen waters like his Nordic ancestors. Steve. Seeing Steve’s eyes glowing under daylight. Or seeing his freckles lit like the works of art they are, hanging upon the gallery of his shoulders. A small, but genuine smile comes to his face.

“Just remember it takes eight minutes for light to travel from sun to Earth. Which means you'll know we've succeeded about eight minutes after we deliver the payload. All you have to do is look out for a little extra brightness in the sky. So, if you wake up one morning, and it's a particularly beautiful day you'll know we made It.….Okay. I'm signing out, and I'll see you in a couple of years.”

At least, he hopes he will.

 

Natasha is on her way back from the oxygen garden when she spies Clint in the observation room. She rounds the corner and is immediately blinded by the slightly unfiltered sun.  


“Ah! Avenger, dial it down a little, will you?” she asks the AI, throwing her arm up to shield her eyes.  


“Yes, Romanoff.”  


“Clint?” she asks, trying to seize his attention. He remains silent, still staring at the star shining beyond the glass. “Clint?” silence. Finally “Captain?”

Clint snaps back into reality. Giving his wife a cocky grin. “Captain is it? Since when did you start finally calling me that?”  


Natasha swats at his arm, sitting down next to him. She stares out at the Sun, it was so dim but still such a brilliant orange color. Like a lantana flower. “I'm guessing you've been talking to Bruce.”  


Suddenly Clint is all business, “So, do you have that report for me?” he asks, folding up his sunglasses and placing them on the bench next to him.  


Natasha goes along with the topic change. “Yeah. Right here.” She hands him the information sheet. “The O2 productivity is good. In fact, if anything, we're over-producing. It will trail off dramatically when we get nearer. But in truth, we have the reserves to make it there and a quarter-way back.”

Clint looks concerned, slightly frowning at the sheet, a small crease forming between his eyebrows. Natasha knows this face, he’s worried.  


“You're thinking about Hydra I.” Bingo. Clint’s face gives it all away, she was right. “Well, whatever it was that tripped them up l don't think it was a lack of oxygen. Not on the outward journey, at any rate.”  


“C’mon Stark! You took too long and now there’s no way to send my package. How in the hell is Fury going to know we’re right on schedule?” Coulson was trying to remain calm, he loved Tony, but keeping up with the checkpoints for mission control was a big part of his job.  


“I'm sorry, all right? Jesus.” Tony began, “It’s not my fault you can’t have phone sex with your little girlfriend Fury.”

Coulson didn’t know if it was the comment or the cocky grin that set him off, but his fist swung out before he could stop it.

Maria spots the whole throw down through the security cameras.  


“Thor, Banner, report to Flight Deck.” She speaks into the comm.  


Banner answers first. “What's the problem?”  


“We have an excess of manliness breaking out in the Comms Center.”  


Steve comes around the corner as the fist connects with a nearby screen. Sparks fly and the iron scent of blood tinges the air.

Blue eyes go dead as Steve’s hands begin to shake.

“Goddammit Coulson! Look at what you’ve done!” Tony yells as he bends down and slowly, ever so slowly, reaches out and touches Steve’s shaking wrist. “Go get Bruce.” He says to Coulson, trying not to yell and startle Steve even more.

It’s been years, _years_ , since Steve has had a PTSD attack. He was even cleared for this mission, that’s how long the ex-soldier has been mentally stable. Proving himself to be the best match as engineer for this mission. It must have been the sparks or the blood, Tony tells himself, but he can’t help but worry about what set Steve off after all this time.

 

Steve hates doctor’s offices.

It doesn’t matter that Bruce is one of his closest friends, part of his family of eight. He hates the white sterile surfaces and the smell. That god-awful cleaner and antiseptic combo that makes his skin crawl. Yet, here he is.

“So how does this work?” He knows exactly how this works, but still he asks Bruce, who sits across a small white desk from him. “Am I supposed to tell you about my childhood?”  


This puts a small smile on Bruce’s face. “I probably know more about your childhood than you do.” He says as his fingers fly over the keys of the monitor in front of him. Pulling up every bit of information about Steve Rogers.  


The engineer sits up in his chair a little, “It's the time. Sixteen months, you can get used to anything. You just….lose track. Then things come out of nowhere and bam. You’re right back to square one.” His blue eyes search of something in Bruce. The doctor sits back in his chair looking at Steve’s file and then the man who sits before him. The clean cut soldier smiling back at him from the monitor looks so much more different than the shaggy haired, bearded man sagging somewhat in the white office chair.  


Steve starts up again. “I know I’m fucked up. From now on. I'm not gonna lose track again. I can’t, for the sake of the mission.”  


Bruce taps some notes into the file. “Prescription...”

Steve’s head reels. He can’t handle another round of meds. Can’t handle the person they make him. A head so full of cotton he can barely dig his way out of it.   


“...Earth Room.” Bruce finishes. The large, white, and present shaped box behind Steve lights up. Ready for him to step inside. Steve is so relieved he nearly falls out of the chair. Two hours of simulated Earth experiences? He can handle that, looking forward to it actually.   


“Two hours?” Bruce asks, tapping more into the screen. He then looks at Steve.

“And get a haircut, Rogers.”  


Steve looks more hopeful than when he walked into the office. “Yeah. Can do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed the first installment of my AU! 
> 
> If you liked it, please give me a kudos or a comment!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> XOXO 
> 
> Bea


End file.
